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The Black Minute-Glass
Ripley gave the party the week off. And it was good.... for a week. The next week, though, Raef went by early in the morning and found it torn open. The door, kicked in. Ripley's office was destroyed. Blood on the ground. Her desk smashed to pieces in search of evidence. And pinned on the door: a notice declaring that the Graverunner's Guild had been seized by the Church of Helm. The Church passed a law allowing them to arrest suspects without evidence. Ripley had been arrested and dragged off to be tortured. Goro bolted to check on Amari and found her being dragged out of her home by two paladins. Roddy and Jonn-- working together-- managed to scare them off and nearly kill them, and the two paladins bolted. Amari collapsed on the ground, weeping. The party grabbed her and absconded to the Sugar Glider. "Joan told me that if something like this ever happened, I could go to the Sanctuary of Eldath and ask for someone named Jasper," Amari said. "It's only two days away by boat, four or five by land. We can go there and be safe. Please, Goro." The party made a plan. Beneath the Abbey of Helm was an old mining operation the Church used as a temporary prison. The party broke in through an old mineshaft. They found Ripley beaten and tortured, missing two fingers, strung up against a wall, being interrogated by two paladins... and Captain Odin, still recovering from being poisoned. A fight broke out. Goro went straight for Captain Odin's throat. Ripley kicked Odin in the back while they fought, throwing him off-balance, and while he was down, Larkin, Raef, and Jonn attacked him as hard as they could, and Roddy heated his armor red-hot. Odin managed to crawl to his feet and held his sword at Ripley's throat. "Call off the fucking spell," he said to Roddy, who was heating his armor and boiling him alive. "Cut it out!" "Roddy, Roddy, Roddy! Stop!" Goro called out. Roddy called off the spell, and Odin breathed a sigh of relief. And then immediately, Goro hit him with a hold person spell. Larkin simultaneously shot him in the chest, and Captain Odin crumpled to the ground, dead. "Oh, thank fucking god," Ripley said. "I thought I was dead." The party quickly collected Griffin (Raef's boyfriend) and helped the prisoners out. They healed Ripley as best they could, but she was badly incapacitated. They brought her safely back to the ship. The party agreed to sail to the Sanctuary of Eldath. While they were arguing, though, Mishka appeared with a crack. He seemed relaxed, calm, and pleased. He thanked Goro for his help. Then, one mile away, the scene cut away. To Diva, sitting quietly in her shop. She sat in her back room, full of her weirdest magical objects. She was surrounded by small vials of black Seeds of Gluttony. On the counter next to her sat a small minute-glass, full of black sand. She turned it over. And the sixty seconds began. Goro staggered and fell to his knees. "Goro?" Mishka said, bending down. "Are you okay? Are you seasick? God, that's adorable." Goro gripped Mishka by the back of the hair. Slammed Mishka's face into the railing. And reached into his own pocket, pulling out the two Seeds of Gluttony... which Jonn planted on him earlier in the day, while Goro was distracted by the fight with Odin. Goro popped the top off and forced the vial into Mishka's mouth. Mishka heaved and retched, clutching at his throat. His body shuddered like a puppet having its strings rattled. And his eyes turned wet, oily, and black. Mishka (now Diva's newest host) hit the party with the strongest maximized fireball he could use. Then, grabbing Possessed!Goro, he teleported into the ship, down below, to Joan's unconscious body. Goro used the second vial to infect Joan, who stood up, drew her sword, and sank it deep into Amari's gut. Then Mishka grabbed Joan, then teleported them both out of the room. Goro collapsed onto the floor, crawled to Amari, and stabilized her, saving her before she bled out. Diva used forty-two seconds. Eighteen seconds remain. Category:Session Recaps